Other

BBC World Service Online

Assignment

Factual

Investigations and journeys into the heart of global events from BBC correspondents.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Assignment: Cuba’s Cancer Revolution

Documentaries

News

Cuba’s Cancer Revolution

20/04/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - Assignment, Cuba’s Cancer Revolution

In a revolutionary first, one of Cuba’s cancer treatments gets a US drug trial

Cuba’s biotech industry is booming.  And in a revolutionary first, its lung cancer treatment is being trialled in the US.  So with limited resources, how has Cuba done it?

Lung cancer is America's biggest cancer killer. But there is hope: the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has sanctioned trials of CimaVax - a treatment created in Cuba that has extended the lives of hundreds of patients on the island. This is the first time a Cuban drug has been tested in the US. 

American cancer patients got wind of CimaVax five years ago. Patients like Judy Ingels - an American with a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis - arrive regularly in Havana, breaking the US embargo against Cuba, and hoping for a miracle. It's traffic that's increased since the US / Cuba thaw. 

The creation of Cuba's biotech industry was Fidel Castro's idea back in the 1980s. Today it employs 22,000 people, and sells drugs all over the world - excluding the US. When Presidents Obama and Castro made their momentous move to end hostilities, doctors and patients on both sides of the Florida Straits hoped everyone might benefit from an exchange of life-saving treatments. Now there's deep anxiety. Will President Trump re-freeze the thaw, and jeopardise a revolutionary collaboration?

For Assignment, Linda Pressly explores Cuba's bio-tech industry. How has this Caribbean nation been able to develop world-class drugs with its limited resources?

(Photo: Judy Ingels, who has travelled to Havana for cancer treatment, with her husband, Bill, and daughter, Cindy)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Assignment

Cuba’s Cancer Revolution

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service